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A Day in The Life

The Run Daren Run is officially in full gear with 14 days already down and 86 days of running left to go. Two weeks in, we’re finally getting into the groove of life on the road. A lot of you have been asking questions and since I normally only have time to write end-of-the-day updates on social media, I thought I’d let this blog be the place to answer the miscellaneous questions.

The crew and I in Hollywood right before the start.

Here’s what a typical day looks like for us.

Mike and Bob hard at work in the trailer!Ready for life on the road!

6:00 am: We wake up [sometimes to the freezing cold if we don’t have electricity that night] and get the generator and coffee/breakfast going. I don’t eat a lot in the mornings, just a bagel with cream cheese.6:30-7:00am: We hitch up the trailer and the crew drops me off at the location where we stopped the night before and I start jogging once again.7:00-3:00: I RUN. The crew typically goes up 5-10 miles ahead of me at a time. While they wait, they contact media, update social media, plan out where we’re going to stay that night, take care of errands and prep food for me. They stay busy and I am extremely thankful for them. Mike will join me on my run at different times throughout the day to keep me company and Danielle will pop in some miles every once in a while as well. It’s great they can do this, especially in the desert when I have no one else signed up to join me. Every time I stop, I stretch out of my muscles, often using my rollers on a mat. I’ll change out my socks and shoes to keep the moisture at a minimum and eat something more substantial than my accel gels [which are awesome]. The crew refills my running bottle with accelerade and puts more gels in my belt before sending me off until the next meeting point.3:00: Every day is different depending on the number of miles, weather, and hills, but I typically finish right around 3pm. I stretch one more time and we drive off to wherever we’re staying that night. KOA has given us vouchers for free stays along the way, but if we don’t have one close by, we’ll try to find a truck stop or somewhere that allows trailers to park.4:00: I am hungry! Danielle typically makes dinner, but Mike and Bob are always helping. They do a great job. About once a week we’ll try to find a nice buffet dinner where I can eat as much as I possibly can.5:00-7:00: If anything needs to be done, we may go out into town [if there is one] and buy groceries or run some errands. If there is nothing around, which has been the case often these first few weeks, we’ll just chat and clean up.7:00: I crash and start getting ready for bed. I need my sleep!

Donuts. One of my biggest motivations to run.Stretch Time.

Here are some common questions asked via facebook:What is my pace? I am taking my time! I’ve been averaging between 10-11 minute miles, but I am not afraid to walk up giant hills that would otherwise zap my energy and stop for stretching and food breaks. 3000 miles is a long way; there’s no rush.How many blisters? TwoHow many lost toenails? OneHow am I holding up physically? I am doing well. Do I feel like I’ve run over 400 miles since January 1st? Yes. But praise God for no major injuries and nothing unexpected. I am getting plenty of sleep which is essential and am not pushing my body further than it’s trained to handle. My feet are doing great. Karhu shoes and Thorlos socks are great!What am I eating? Anything I want :]. There’s a stereotype that if you’re a big runner, you’re also into healthy eating. Eating healthy isn’t my top priority; eating ENOUGH is my priority. I eat a lot of cream cheese and salami sandwiches, fruit, cheese, cheetos, donuts…and all the delicious yet typical meals my wife makes. To be honest, I don’t really plan out my nutrition. I just eat what I crave and eat often. Pacific Health labs has sponsored a lot of my running nutrition gels which have been great and help to restore a lot of calories during my run. I also make sure I am staying hydrated. Because of the cooler weather, it hasn’t been an issue.Do I listen to music? I prefer talking to people over listening to music. When I’m by myself, I’ll turn on the ipod mini my friend Sada let me borrow with whatever random music is on there and skip to upbeat, techno songs that keep me moving. My phone battery won’t last long enough for me to stream my own music :].What’s my plan for bad weather? Just keep running. :]Hardest Part? The hardest part of this run for me [besides the running] was having to leave everything else behind. For Danielle and I, it has shaped the last two years of our lives and has meant leaving our routines, job, friends, church, etc. The hardest part was in the preparation and in having to sacrifice social events and other things to fit in training time and make proper preparation. Being the extrovert that I am, this has been the biggest challenge.Best Part? Being able to use something I love and am good at for good and getting to meet all sorts of new, awesome people along the way.Motivation? Those going without access to clean water. I know I’ve said it many times, but I am extremely grateful for each and every donation that comes in. Every mile becomes purposeful when I know that others are giving generously because of this run. I want 3000 miles under my feet to mean 2,500 people served in Ethiopia. To make a donation, you can visit https://www.stayclassy.org/daren.